Razer, in particular, has the been leading the charge toward more modern-feeling gaming laptops for some time, fitting high-end parts into very slim cases with tastefully understated designs. The latest gaming flagship from the company is an updated 14-inch system called the Razer Blade (get it?), an update to last year's identically named version.

Sarah Tew/CNET

Like last year's version, the graphics power still comes from an Nvidia GeForce GTX 970m graphics card, which is one step down from the current top-end of the mobile graphics stack. The major change for the 2016 edition is a new Core i7-6700HQ processor from Intel's sixth-generation of Core i-series CPUs. Plus, the 2016 version trims a bit from both the system weight and its starting price, at 4.2 pounds and $1,999 in the US. (The 2016 version of the Razer Blade is not available to buy yet internationally, but that works out to £1,383 in the UK and AU$2,731 in Australia.)

Razer Blade (14-inch, 2016)

Price as reviewed

$1,999

Display size/resolution

14-inch 3,200x1,800 touchscreen

PC CPU

2.6GHz Intel Core i7-6700HQ

PC memory

16GB DDR4 SDRAM 2133MHz

Graphics

Nvidia GeForce GTX 970M

Storage

256GB PCIe SSD

Networking

802.11ac wireless, Bluetooth 4.1

Operating system

Windows 10 Home (64-bit)

Unlike most other gaming laptops, there's only one user-configuration choice to make on the Blade. The stock model has 256GB of solid state storage, but for $200 more, you can double that to 512GB.

The only other real option to consider is whether you want the sold-separately Razer Core. Announced in January at CES 2016 and expected shortly, the Razer Core is an external box built to house a single desktop graphics card (for example, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 980), and route its graphics rendering power to the laptop via Thunderbolt-enabled USB-C connection. (That single wire will also handle power duties, too.) It's $499, or $399 if purchased with a Razer laptop. That sounds like a lot for an external housing box, especially if you have to bring your own GPU -- but it also provides a way to get this laptop to work with high-end desktop-only virtual reality headsets like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.

The Razer Core will also work with the 13-inch Razer Blade Stealth. That system lacks its own graphics card, but it starts at just $999 and can be configured with either a 2,560x1,440-pixel or a full 4K display. The touchscreen display here has a single resolution option, 3,200x1,800.

Sarah Tew/CNET

By itself, the Blade is slim enough for everyday on-the-go use, but powerful enough for gaming, video editing, and other serious tasks. The look is not exactly buttoned-down, but the matte-black shell, rigid construction, and minimalist design don't scream "gamer," even if the green snake-like logo on the back of the lid does. If everyone you work with wears a tie, this might not blend into the corporate culture. If people bring their dogs to work and your office has either bean bag chairs or a foosball table, it should fit in just fine.

A keyboard for showing off

Like the 13-inch Razer Blade Stealth, the keyboard in this 14-inch Blade is part of Razer's Chroma line, which also covers standalone desktop keyboards, and provides more backlighting flexibility and features than any other laptop. It makes for a fun party trick that will turn heads when you set it up to display some multicolored pyrotechnics.